Driving arrangement for the impression cylinder of a cylinder printing press



Jan. 13, 1959 A. BUTTNER 2,858,119

DRIVING ARRANGEMENT FOR THE IMPRESSION CYLINDER OF A CYLINDER PRINTING PRESS Fil ed Dec. 51, 1957 I Hi ,/11

| J- I 8 H T V l- I 6 A 5 l l i 10 1 l l- :3 g W United States Patent O DRIVING ARRANGEMENT FOR THE IMPRES- SIIgEIESCYLINDER OF A CYLINDER PRINTING P Artur Biittner, Heidelberg, Germany, assignor to Schnelipressenfabrik Aktiengesellschaft Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.

Application December 31, 1957,Serial No. 706,344

Claims priority, application Germany December 31, 1956 3 Claims. (Cl. 101-283) This invention relates to printing. presses and more particularly to an arrangement for driving the impression cylindergof a-.cyl,inder printing press; of the-type in which the impression cylinder is, capable of being raised and lowered.

In present: day printing presses when the impression cylinderis required to be moved to. aposition Where it does not come, into contact with the flat reciprocating.

with the cooperating gear wheel, since it; does not join in the;-upWar.d and: downward movement of-the cylinder. Insuch constructions; however, somewhat more play occurs. due to the introduction of the flexible coupling in theimpression cylinder gearing, sincethefour'tongues or projections of the flatingflangeused in such constructions must be able tocarry' out a sliding movement. in the four slots, in which: they engage. This results in an undesirable increase in; the playin the drive arrangement of the impression cylinder, which becomes greater. with increasing time of operation of the machine and is detrimental to. the smooth running of the machine, since the torque produced in the drive arrangement is constantly transmitted through the members of the flexiblecoupling.

Constructions have also been proposed in which the flexiblecoupling is inserted in the intermediate gear wheel with'which the gear wheel of the impression cylinder engages. in this type ofconstruction, the play in the flexible coupling is indeed eliminated when the impression cylinder is lowered. One of the two gear wheels which the flexible coupling allows to mesh together must, however, follow the raising and lowering movement of the cylinder. The latter is achieved either by means of a control device employing an eccentric pin, or by attachment of the bearing pin of the intermediate gear wheel to shear levers, of which one lever is connected with the cylinder bearing so that it carries out upward and downward movements with the latter and the intermediate gear wheel also moves with it. This arrangement requires a greater number of links than are necessary when the flexible coupling is fixed directly in the cylinder gear wheel on the axle journal of the impression cylinder.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved arrange ent of this type in which an Oldham coupling is arranged coaxially with the impression cylinder and adapted to eliminate all the above mentioned disadvantages.

A feature of the arrangement according to the invention is that the Oldham coupling comprises a pair of gear wheels mounted in a cylinder printing press wherein the impression cylinder is adapted to be raised and lowered, a gear driving arrangement for transmitting rotary drive to the impression cylinder, including an Oldham coupling arranged coaxially with said impression cylinder to transmit drive to the latter while it is being raised and lowered, without interrupting the engagement of the gears, and is characterised in that the Oldham coupling comprises a pair of gear wheels mountedindependently of one another, one on either side of a cross-staif head, and both engaging in a common driving gear wheel providing said rotary drive. One of said pair of gear wheels is arranged to follow the raising and lowering movements of the impression cylinder and .the other is fixed with respect to said movements.

The outer or fixed one of said pair of gear wheels may conveniently be mounted in the side wall of the frame of. the printing press or on the outer wall of a housing for the driving arrangement, the inner or movable gear wheel of the pair being mounted on the shaft of the impression cylinder. This makes it possible for the transmission of rotative movement or rotary drive, through the cross-stat? head, to the impression cylinder to take place only in the raised position of the latter, but not, on the other hand, when the impression cylinder is in the lowered position. conveniently be fitted directly into the gear wheel which moves with the cylinder, the play of the cross-stair head duringlthe transmission of the rotary drive to the driving arrangement of the impression cylinder is eliminated as soon'as, printing isstarted and the impression cylinder is in the lowered position.

Only when the impression cylinder is raised, and then only for short periods, is the cross-staff head employed to transmit the drive to the impression cylinder.

In the printing position where the trouble-free running of the machine is so important, the action of the cross-staff head. remains inoperative or cut out and the press in this case operates as if the cross-stall" head were not present. which the cross-staff head'ofiers in eliminating play when the impressioncylinder is raised, i'. e. when printing is not taking place. advantages which resulted from the introduction of a cross-staff head directly into the cylinder gearing, in that in suchan arrangement the transmission of the rotary drive is carried on continuously through the cross-stair head even when theimpression cylinder was in the lowered operating position, are completely eliminated.

Other object, features and. advantages of the invention Will be understood. from the following description and claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, a preferred embodiment of the driving arrangement, and in which Fig. 1 is a cross section view through the driving arrangement of the impression cylinder according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the flexible coupling shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a side elevation view thereof.

In the arrangement shown in the drawings, the impression cylinder 1 is driven from a gear wheel 2, which engages with two other gear wheels 3 and 4. The gear wheel 3 is fixed or otherwise securely screwed to the axle journal of the impression cylinder 1. The gear wheel 4 is rotatably mounted on a gudgeon 6, which is carried by the outer wall of the drive housing 7. The gear wheel 4 is provided with two angularly spaced grooves or recesses 8 and the gear wheel 3 with two grooves 9. A cross-staff head or flexible coupling 10 has dogs or projec- Although the cross-staff head may.

In this way are obtained the advantages At the same time, however, those dis-.

tions 8:: and 9a which engage in these grooves 8, 9 to selectively connect the two gear wheels 3 and 4 together. It will be understood that projections 9a are slidably engaged in recesses 9. When thebearings 11 of the impression cylinder are raised to raise the latter by the amount x, which may be effected in any convenient known manner, the gear wheel 3 is lifted relative to the gear wheel 2. and the coupling member 10. The gear wheel 4 mounted beside the wheel 3 on the other hand remains finnly mounted on the drive housing 7 and does not take part in the lifting movement of the impression cylinder 1. Consequently it stays in mesh, free from play, with the gear wheel 2. The transmission of the rotary drive when the impression cylinder 1 is raised therefore takes place by way of the cross-staff head 10.

In the lowered printing position of the impression cylinder 1, the teeth of the gear wheel 3 mesh without play with the gear wheel 2 and the operation of the crossstaff head 19 is cut out, so that it is rendered ineffective or inoperative. Thus the cross-staff head is brought into action only for the transmission of the rotary drive so as to drive the cylinder 1 during the period when the cylinder 1 is raised. It is thus immaterial whether the cylinder is raised and lowered during each printing operation, as is necessary, for example, in the case of .two revolution machines or whether it is raised as required only for the purpose of discontinuing printing, as for example, with single-revolution machines.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention is in no way limited to this embodiment and that many changes may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a cylinder printing press having a driven impression cylinder mounted for selective movement between a selected raised position and a lowered printing position, an improved driving arrangement for the impression cylinder comprising, a driving gear for selectively driving the impression cylinder, a pair of cooperating driven gears for imparting rotative movement to said cylinder regardless of whether it is in its raised or lowered position, one of said pair of gears being mounted for continuous engagement with the driving gear, the other gear of said pair of gears being fixed to the impression cylinder and movable therewith between the lowered and raised positions and mounted engaging the driving gear only when the cylinder is in its lowered position, a flexible coupling associated with said pair of gears mounted slidably engaging one of said pair of gears and releasably fixed relative the other gear of said pair of gears thereby to impart rotative movement from the gear continuously engaged with the driving gear to the other gear only when said impression cylinder is not in its lowered position, whereby the impression cylinder is selectively rotatively driven in both of said positions.

2. In a cylinder printing press having a driven impression cylinder mounted for selective movement between a selected raised position and a lowered printing position, an improved driving arrangement for the impression cylinder comprising, a driving gear for selectively driving the impression cylinder, a pair of cooperating driven gears for imparting rotative movement to said cylinder regardless of whether it is in its raised or lowered position, one of said pair of gears being mounted for continuous engagement with the driving gear, the other gear of said pair of gears being fixed to the impression cylinder and movable therewith between the lowered and raised positions and mounted engaging the driving gear only when the cylinder is in its lowered position, a flexible coupling member mounted between said pair of gears slidably engaging the gear fixed to said impression cylinder thereby to impart rotative movement from the gear continuously engaged with the driving gear to the other gear only when said impression cylinder is not in its lowered position, whereby the impression cylinder is selectively rotatively driven in both of said positions.

3. In a cylinder printing press having a driven impression cylinder mounted for selective movement between a selected raised position and a lowered printing position, an improved driving arrangement for the impression cylinder comprising, a driving gear for selectively driving the impression cylinder, a pair of cooperating driven gears for imparting rotative movement to said cylinder regardless of whether it is in its raised or lowered position, one of said pair of gears being mounted for continuous engagement with the driving gear, the other gear of said pair of gears being fixed to the impression cylinder and movable therewith between the lowered and raised positions and mounted engaging the driving gear only when the cylinder is in its lowered position, each of said pair of gears being provided with angularly spaced recesses, a flexible coupling member associated with said pair of gears mounted coaxially with said pair of gears when the cylinder is in its printing position and releasably fixed relative one of the gears of said pair of gears while slidably engaging the other gear of said pair thereby to impart rotative movement from the gear continuously engaged with the driving gear to the other gear only when said impression cylinder is not in its lowered position, said coupling member comprising an annular member provided with angularly spaced projections releasably engaged in said recesses, whereby the impression cylinder is selectively rotatively driven in both of said positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,080,978 Johnston Dec. 9, 1913 1,130,259 Cottrall Mar. 2, 1915 1,157,888 Miehle Oct. 26, 1915 1,873,912 Webster Aug. 23, 1932 

